mark88

Everything starts 6 years ago, when i bought a '91 Mariner Blue Miata 80k miles (usa spec), 1.6 115cv in Torino (north Italy)
Nice and shine, (olmost) 100% stock , beautiful color, brand new soft top..
Apparently perfect right?
well.. NO!

The car was imported from Germany few years before and this meant rust.
I knew it but it was love at first sight and decided to bought it anyway..
In my mind the idea was a very little conservative restoration to fix some minor issue but after few days i realized that i should have to change my mind.

Here some pics of my miata after i bought it

Braineack

iTrader: (62)

what v6 are you restoring?


the red and orange buttons on the shifter, and aftermarket radio suggest it's not 100% stock.

mark88

The orange switch is for some kind of light made from the old owner.. but i don't care for now.
The engine is a KLZE 2.5 V6 from a Mazda 626. I bought it one year ago and it still is in the garage.

Ok now let's talk about restoration first.
After one month of occasional use the first problems appears and i decided to start a little restoration but then i realised that it would be a massive restoration!






Rust rust rust rust...

Onyxyth

iTrader: (2)

That'd be considered a clean car here in PA.

viperormiata

iTrader: (24)

Welcome!

psyber_0ptix

iTrader: (4)

Good color

sixshooter

iTrader: (12)

Welcome to the forum. Will this be a complete strip down or just a repaint of the bottom of the car?

KMiata

Welcome! Looks like a fun project. Car looks great.

x_25

I wish either of my cars had that little rust....

mark88

Unfortunately this is the only good parts of the car..
Both sills were completely rusted, the right side worse than the left, the control arms rusted too, the diff, everything!










diff



right sill



near the fuel tank




after that, i started cut off all around the rusty parts to check the real amount of damage

thirdgen

iTrader: (26)

Holy FaeFlora!!!!

mark88

shure?

mark88

Anyway, i started with the fuel tank.
all the edges were rusted under the stone chip and all the plates too.


wirebrushed, welded and painted again


and the plates from this


to this



after that i started with the control arms.. very funny.

x_25

I take it back....

My daily will get there though. Stupid road salt...

mark88

Time to remove the engine and other stuff!

But first.. where are my engine bolts on the car
anyway..








time to rest



and few hours later the engine bay almost empty and front (nice and clean) axle out

mark88

After the engine bay i mouved my work to the interior..
22 years of dry leaves, dust, and so on..






And under the carpet the same stuff.. rust!




Another problem is the driver side bended seat rod (i'm not sure is the right name)
probably some previous owner was a 150 kg man

mark88

Little update, reinforced rear subframe.
Rady for sandblast and powder coat

mark88

Finally my chassis tilter is rady!

kevinspann

iTrader: (1)

Is the subframe seam welding something that helps? I don't know that I've seen it done before.

mark88

n the front side i used the original frame, on the back the rear bumper holding holes.
I'm very satisfied about the result, working under the car is very easy now!

Then i started removing all the underbody stone chip protection.








A closer look at the right subframe scratched and rusted..